Stay ConnectedThe Fashion Your Seatbelt podcast gives its listeners the rare opportunity to hear from some of the leading voices working in the fashion industry today. Each podcast is an exclusive one-to-one conversation with a creative who is crafting the future of fashion. Hosted by the renowned and award-winning fashion journalist Jessica Michault, this podcast is designed to take its audience directly to the heart of fashion and discover what makes it tick.
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Let me tell you about the white hot Spanish designer Alejandro Gómez Palomo. You have probably already heard about his brand Palomo Spain – which he launched in 2015 – because of Beyoncé. She famously wore one of his floral menswear pieces for her first official photo with her newborn twins, Rumi and Sir. Palomo calls himself a menswear designer, that is what he studied during his time at the London College of Fashion, and yet his theatrical outfits can easily cross gender lines. His clothing is not so much focused on a person’s sex, but rather their level of sartorial daring. There is a boldness to Palermo and a joyful abandonment to his well-constructed designs. His imagination is overflowing with ideas, but also there is a meticulousness and attention to detail to his work. Think John Galliano, Alexander McQueen or Jean Paul Gaultier.In fact, being a fashion designer was always what Palomo knew he wanted to do. Growing up in the small town of Córdoba, in the South of Spain, he admitted that by the age of six he already was a big fan of dressing up Barbies, he religiously watched fashion shows on TV and was sketching incessantly. And then one day his father made the very smart suggestion that he study to become a fashion designer. I had the pleasure of speaking with Alejandro right after his Spring/Summer 2019 collection at Madrid Fashion Week, where part of the invitation to his show was a drop of his own blood on a specimen slide, and the show itself was inside the Museum of Natural Sciences, surrounded by taxidermy stuffed animals and an array of curiosity cabinet pieces, that - just like the essence of the Palomo brand – brings disparate ideas together to create something wholly original.
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Glenn Martens is the creative director of the brand Y/Project. He is also one of the most talented young designers working in Paris today. His Spring/Summer 2019 show was a seminal collection that beautifully underlined the real breadth and width of his conceptual creations. Designs that have their foundation in streetwear but their execution is of a couture level.Born in Bruges, Belgium, Glenn was not one of those designers who dreamed about fashion from an early age. Instead he studied interior design and just by happenstance ended up applying to the prestigious - and famously rigorous - Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, where in the end he would graduate at the top of his class. From there Glenn landed a gig as a junior designer for the women’s pre-collections at Jean Paul Gaulter and he also spent time working as the first assistant to the founder of Y/Project, Yohan Serfaty. Then in 2012 Glenn launched his own signature brand before being asked by Serfaty’s business partner to come back to the Y/Project brand as its creative direction when Serfaty passed away in 2013. From that moment until today Glenn has produces collections that are filled with shape shifting clothing. Pieces that appear sliced and diced together, have intriguing appendages or layers that make them look both familiar and fantastical. And the fashion world has taken notice of Glenn. In 2017 he was awarded the ANDAM prize, winning $280,000 and a year-long mentorship from Francesca Bellettini , the CEO and president of Yves Saint Laurent. I spoke with Glenn just a few weeks before he presented his latest menswear collection at Pitti Uomo in Florence. Forgoing a Paris showing for the prestige and the honor of presenting his clothing in an arena that celebrates the best that menswear has to offer. But what I love most about Glenn is that none of his burgeoning fame, nor the growing number of accolades he receives have gone to his head. He is just a great guy you would be happy to grab a beer with and talk the night away.
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Klaus Stockhausen is the contributing fashion director at Zeit Magazine and is a fixture of the fashion scene. This is a man who has really lived life to the fullest, and has done it with lots and lots of laughter. In fact, I don’t think I have ever laughed as much in an interview as I did with Klaus. He is honest and playful. Self-deprecating and just the right amount of catty so you know it’s all in good fun.Just to give you an idea about who Klaus is. He started his career as a DJ in Germany. Something he did for 15 years and he is created for introducing house music to the country. He was also in a boys band called Boytronic that had a top 10 hit song called “You”. He was doing street style long before that phrase even existed in the fashion lexicon. And not only was he the personal stylist for Naomi Campbell he was also the mastermind behind all of John Galliano’s extraordinary outfits that he wore to take his epic bows at the end of each of his Christian Dior and Galliano shows.Sufficed to say Klaus has got a lot of great stories to tell. As well strong opinions about the current crop of models, how to handle divas on a photo shoot and some key insights into how to be a successful stylist. We spoke together right after the month of fall/winter 2018 fashion shows had wrapped.
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The fashion industry is buzzing about the Spanish designer Johnny Coca. Everyone wants to know how, in just three years, he has turned the Mulberry brand around. A big part of his success comes thanks to his innovative business strategy, his inventive and exuberant collections and some seriously covetable bags and accessories. Mulberry made the right call when they hired Johnny. And I am guessing that decision was pretty much a no brainer for the brand, considering that Johnny spent years working alongside Phoebe Philo at Celine. He was head of the design studio when it came out with the brand’s iconic Trapeze bag. And before that he was coming up with winning accessories for Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton. The man just knows how to make great accessories! And now is turning those design skills towards womenswear collections, all of which so far have garnered warm reviews from top fashion critics.It was a real treat getting to know Johnny during our conversation. By the end of this interview I was bowled over both by his warm and open nature and his bold clear vision for the future of the Mulberry brand.
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Gabriela Hearst is a self-taught designer, who only launched her signature label three years ago. This year she was nominated for the CFDA womenswear designer of the year award, just opened her first flagship store in New York, debuted a permanent showroom in Pars. She is also currently on track for being profitable by the end of the year.But Hearst is no overnight success. She has years of experience in the fashion industry. However, it was her conscious decision to shift to only creating clothing using the best materials she could lay her hands on, to focus on versatile timeless garments and to design pieces with multitasking women in mind that made all the difference. In an industry built on the idea of the accumulation of things, Hearst is finding her global success with a less, but best, philosophy.When we spoke she had just signed her lease for her store and her nomination for her CFDA award was still very fresh in her mind. But even though she had a lot of exciting news about her nascent company, it was when she spoke to me about the core message of her company that I really felt I got a better and deeper understanding of this exceptional business woman.
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The rise of Brian Phillips, the President of Black Frame, to the top echelons of the fashion industry, is both well-known and impressive. Instead of working his way up through the ranks of PR companies he founded Black Frame after having made fashion inroads at the cult magazine Visionaire straight out of college, worked at the now defunct production company Fatal Art Syndicate, and built up a close knit group of friends who just happened to work in the fashion industry. Friends that including Carol Lim and Humberto Leon, the duo behind Opening Ceremony (which Brian helped promote from the start) and who also are also now designing Kenzo – a deal that Brian was instrumental in brokering for the duo.But, perhaps the most mythic fashion war story from Brian’s early career years happened when, while he was in-between jobs, Hedi Slimane came knocking. Brain had worked with the iconic designer on a project a year earlier, the results of which apparently stuck in Slimane’s brain. When Slimane reached out to Brian again, he just happened to be the creative director of Dior Homme. After a meeting with Sidney Toledano, the then CEO of Christian Dior at that time, Brian had a deal with the brand.Thus, at the tender age of 24 Brian launched Black Frame. His first two clients.... Dior Homme and Visionaire.Since then he has nurtured the creative careers of designers and brands like Rodate, Delfina Delettrez, Helmut Lang, Eckhaus Latta, Woolrich, Dion Lee and Nike. Launched a sister company called Framework that focuses on “developing concepts for innovative brand experiences” and more recently became the creative director of the cult biannual publication Garage Magazine.I have known Brian for many years and what strikes you about him, besides the breadth and width of his cultural knowledge, is his no BS way of doing business. In an industry where schmoozing and sucking up has become almost an art form Brian doesn’t suffer fools or is looking for acolytes. He is all business, pretty much all the time. You better bring you’re A-game and offer up an interesting challenge if you want to get his attention.And Brian is a pretty interesting guy in his own right. I promise that if you can bear with the background hum of the air conditioning fan in this interview, that finally shuts down at about the 4-minute mark of our conversation, you will be rewarded with an insightful and informative discussion in which Brian really lays out his business philosophy and creative strategy. Honestly, I just asked my questions, sat back and let Brian run with it.
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Next year shoe designer Giuseppe Zanotti will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the launch of his signature label.When he started out, during the heart of the 90s era of minimalism, his sexy, vibrate footwear was in stark contrast to anything else on the market And since then he has built up a reputation for creating shoes that are closely linked to the world of music (another one of his passions) as well as using innovative materials and eye catching embellishments – all of it grounded in old school artisanal craftsmanship. A powerful combination that today means the Zanotti brand is a global entity, with almost 100 stores worldwide, that has expanded from women's footwear into luxury handbags, mens shoes, children's footwear and a smattering of ready to wear.Zanotti was born in San Mauro Pascoli, Italy, a village that was just down the road from Rimini, which has a long tradition of shoemaking. It was there that he learned first-hand his trade, designing footwear freelance for small, artisanal shoe companies. Besides whipping up imaginative shoe designs, Zanottti spent much of his after hours during his youth as a radio DJ. Bringing nightspots to life with his impressive musical knowledge and ability to set a party mood. And it was the covers of those LPs that he played that often acted as inspiration for his designs in his early days.Interestingly, it was celebrities who were first draw to Zanotti’s work almost from the start, with Madonna an early fan. Now the list of his high profile clientele probably reaches a mile long, with stars like Beyoncé, Kylie Minogue, Jennifer Lopez, Penelope Cruz, Charlize Theron, and Cameron Diaz buying up his designs. Men too; with Kanye West not only a collector of his mens shoes, he also regularly collaborates with the designer. In fact, Zanottti got in on the collaboration game much earlier that most luxury brands. Working with both celebrities and up and coming fashion designers, supply the shoes for their seasonal collections, long before many of his competitors. That is the real take away you get from Zanotti when you talk with him. He is an artist who enjoys the creative and collaborative process of bringing his hand draw sketches to life. And when I say life, I mean seeing them being worn on the street by real people who love to stand out, get noticed and blaze their own path.
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Giambattista Valli is an extremely talented Italian designer, who was born in Rome and has now built up his own empire. A fashion empire, dedicated to creating romantic, feminine and beautiful clothing for women who want to look and feel special.Valli has done something that very few modern designers have been able to accomplish. He spent years honing his craft alongside great designers like Roberto Capucci and Emanuel Ungaro, before making the bold choice in 2005 (when most of his peers were becoming designers for big name fashion houses) to launch his own signature label. In fact, he reportedly famously passed on taking over at Valentino to start his own company. Which, as anyone in fashion will tell you, was a pretty ballsy move.Since then he has slowly and meticulously grown his brand. Supported by devoted gaggle of beautiful fashion plates, that have been affectionately called Valli Girl; that include Bianca Brandolini d’Adda, Charlotte Dellal, Lee Radziwill, Queen Rania of Jordan, Diane Kruger and Giovanna Englbert. He even had the backbone to take on the rarified air of haute couture, launching his line in 2011. He now counts more than 250 points of sales around the world in over 40 countries across the globe. Oh, and did I mention, beside building his own brand, Valli was behind the Moncler Gamme Rouge womenswear line, designing it for a decade.So the man knows how to multitask. He is also fiercely independent and, until this past year, rebuffed any offers from groups to bring the Valli brand into a luxury fold.But last year Valli teamed up with François Pinault and signed an agreement with Artémis, the French holding company of the Pinault family, which acquired a minority stake in the house. This means that the Valli brand is currently in the throes of some major expansion, as the designer plots out the future of his namesake label.One other thing you need to know about Valli, he loves beauty. He surrounds himself with it, hunts it out wherever he goes and uses it as a benchmark for everything he does. So it shouldn’t be surprising that instead of doing our interview in a sterile office setting he invited me to tea at his hotel, where - sitting by a pool and overlooking a glorious vista - we talked about his past, present the exciting future he sees for his house.
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Tamu McPherson is lovely inside and out. In the world of fashion, she is known as much for her joyful, friendly and outgoing nature as she is for her exquisite taste in clothing and her talent as a photographer. The Jamaica born, digital talent, is the woman behind the website All the Pretty Birds, and first got noticed back in 2006 when she was a budding street style photographer, who had left her job as a lawyer for a Hedge fund in New York and moved to Milan. While she was photographing all of the stylish guests attending the fashion shows her fellow photographers turned the camera on Tamu because, well she just naturally oozes from every pore of her body a modern chic style that most women would kill for.Over the years Tamu has come out from behind the camera more and more. Staring in photos shoots for a number of fashion magazines, acting as a host for industry events, collaborating with brands and contributing to publications and websites like Glamour, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar and Refinery 29 all the while charming her over 200 thousand Instagram followers with her IG stories and images. Tamu is an open book to her fans, she invites everyone to watch her take a dance class, prepare a healthy breakfast for her son and travel vicariously with her to some of fashion’s most glamourous events. All of which is to say, trying to pin Tamu down for an interview is a tall order. For this podcast we ended up setting up the mic in the back seat of her town car and chatted while we waited for our next fashion show to start. And, fair warning, Tamu was a bit under the weather, but she was such a good sport and soldiered on, giving me a wonderful interview between her bouts of coughing. But that’s Tamu for you. She will do anything for a friend. And in the world of fashion everyone is her bestie.
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If there is one person more dedicated to fashion coverage than me, it might just be photographer Phil Oh (AKA Mr. Street Peeper) who is a fixture outside pretty much every fashion show under the sun. He is there (alongside Tommy Ton and Scott Schuman) rain or shine, morning or night, fall, winter, spring or summer. You can’t miss him with his long black hair, dark rimmed, slightly geeky glasses and one colorful, eye catching outfit after another.Also eye catching are the photos he captures on the concrete catwalk. Phil has a tendency to snap his subject in action, on the go and in a hurry. Less posed than the work of most of his colleagues, his photos harken back to the oeuvre of the great Bill Cunningham – the grandfather or godfather (depending on who you ask) of street style photography.On a personal level what makes Phil such a fun person to hang out with during the shows, besides the fact that he barley ever sleeps so he is always reachable, is that he has no filter. He says what he thinks and doesn’t care who hears it. Phil is a true free spirt, with a fantastic sense of personal style and a brilliant eye for capturing fashion moments as they happen with unforgettable images that will mark generations of fashion lovers as visual signposts of how the world dressed up for life.I am particular proud of this podcast because, if you look online to learn about Phil, well there is not a lot out there, he is not a big fan of self-promotion. But even so, I hope with this interview you will be able to discover for yourself why he is such a worthwhile member of our global fashion family.
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